Swim simulator with breathing practice function

ABSTRACT

The invention is related to a swimming teaching apparatus which provides user to make a complete swimming like action on land. The special technical features are a body rotation mechanism, arms guide, a breathing sink and a kick pad for legs, all together to perform on land swimming exercise. All strokes can be skilled with a precise instruction by the coach when the user is stationary on the invention. The invention allows user to do continuous practice of the swimming movements without be interrupted by a breathing problem, when the arms and legs are well coordinated, breathing sink then add to exercise, user can do combined actions slowly to ensure the correctness. The invention is tried to substitute the buoyancy of water as a pre-training machine for those schools which have no swimming pools can still carry out swimming courses for their students to reduce drowning incidents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a machine that emulates strokes whichincluding breathing exercises. The invention is to provide a platformfor practice all strokes to familiarize students with the swimmingskills.

2. Description of the Prior Art

All of the swimming lessons of schools are held in the swimming pools,for those schools which have no swimming pools, swimming courses must beheld in another swimming pool outside their school, this is veryinconvenient. In order to solve the problems of non-swimming poolschools, a swim simulator is invented.

Take freestyle for example, the arms should pass the underside of thelying body along the body center line from the front head to the backthigh, the body has to rotate to match the rhythm of breathing and armcycles which includes palm enter, stretch, catch, pull, recovery to thefront. In order to completely simulate the freestyle movements on land,the body needs to be supported from head to feet entirely, meanwhile, aspace under the body must be reserved for arms to move, and also a bodyrotation mechanism is need for linking arm cycle and breathing.

A swimming simulator should allow the user to lie down on it comfortablyjust like floating on water, and let user learn swimming techniques onland like swimming in water.

How to do it?

My personal view is to have the following requirements.

-   1. It should have an adequate length of backward tilt board to    support the whole lying body from head to tiptoes. (like buoyancy of    water which support the whole body on water). The backward tilt    board is to simulate the body is in an inclined downward position    when swimming in water-   2. It should have an arm and hand guide part. (to give user a    precise route to familiar with the arm movement)-   3. A body rotation part is necessary for freestyle and backstroke.    (to simulate the body rotation movement of freestyle and backstroke    and to facilitate breathing of freestyle)-   4. It should have a space below the tilt board for arms to move just    like swimming.-   5. It should have a suitable pad for feet kicking. (for support the    legs and feet do the similar motion as in swimming)-   6. It should have a breathing part (to familiar with the complete    swimming technique on land instead of go in water)    -   The rhythm of swimming is the first things to be considered in        develop the invention, in other words, familiar with swimming        technique is more important than increase swimming muscle        strength for beginners. User should practice arms and legs move        in sequence without disorder.

According to the requirements of item 1, with adequate length of benchboard to support the lie down body length is the basic elements of theinvention, the user can practice swimming rhythm just as if the bodyfloating in the water. The prior inventions which are missing or shortof board to support the foot, user cannot kick freely with the straightfoot and use the instep to kick on a surface; the hands and feetcoordination cannot be done, either. This would include devices such asdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,049 (James H. Davis), U.S. Pat. No.6,790,164 (James Davis), U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,163 (Keith Van DeLaarschot), U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci), U.S. Pat. No.5,158,513 (Michael P. Reeves).

According to the requirements of item 2, the swimming arm cycle whichincludes open palm entry, open palm stretch, open palm catch, open palmpull and push, exiting the stroke with palm muscle relaxed with highelbow recovery. So the palms are always open during the arm cycle. Manyof the prior inventions let hands grab handles, arm cranks or leverswithout open palms to practice swimming, because the muscles used forthe palm grip and the palm open are different, it means grip somethingwith a palm is not the same palm posture as swimming. This would includedevices such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,585,256 (David DayHarbaugh, IV), U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,931 (Robert Marc Saul), U.S. Pat. No.6,790,163 (Keith Van De Laarschot), U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,432 (Joseph B.Hippensteel), U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,431 (Mark Stuart Yoss), U.S. Pat. No.5,158,513 (Michael P. Reeves), U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,463 (Harry C.Hopkins). U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,396 (Lindsay A. Hooper) have palms openedbut tied on a flat paddle, however it still can't totally release theirmuscles for simulate recovery movement due to a string force kept doingon the arms, but the U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,396 (Lindsay A. Hooper) licensedate in 1985 Aug. 27 shows an important idea that by placing a paddle ona string handle is a better way to simulate the open palm condition ofswimming. Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,251 (Robert H. Sleamaker) licensedate in 1994 Oct. 11 also shows the same usage of a paddle fastened on astring for swimming practice.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,129 (Viatcheslav K. Zaitsev) shows a pair of fixedtraction elements which are curved surfaces from the side view, the armsare stretched without bend when move along the curved traction elements,It is very laborious if swim this way because the stretched arm producebigger torque to the arms.

The U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci) license date in 2000 Nov. 7shows a paddle assembly is installed on a hand track, the hand tracks issummarized as follows:

-   1. Hand track system includes a pair of hand tracks positioned on    opposing sides of the table.-   2. Hand track is contoured of a preset, yet adjustable path that    replicates an “S-shaped” path below the body.-   3. The paddles will rotate around the rails when move to the back.-   4. Each hand track is comprised of a plurality of track sections. As    we know from above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,396 (Lindsay A.    Hooper) license date in 1985 Aug. 27 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,251    (Robert H. Sleamaker) license date in 1994 Oct. 11 that the paddle    had been used for swim simulator since then.

Today, however, swimmers use straight line arm stroke rather than thecontoured, S-shaped” path stroke as can be seen in all swimming race andinstructional videos, the reason is that the body and the arms should belooked as a whole, the contoured, S-shaped” path stroke is not astreamlined body shape because the lead arm stretch to the front butexpand outwards will cause forward resistance and reduce the pushingeffect of the other hand.

Another invention needs to be discussed is U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,634 (JohnProfaci), it has a straight hand track system and is summarized asfollows:

-   A. The hand track systems are joined by a cable.-   B. The cable is received by a pair of pulleys coupled with forward    portions of the enclosure, for directing the cable between the hand    track systems.-   C. The pulleys are coupled with the forward portions of the    enclosure so that the cable is placed in an orientation which    substantially parallels longitudinal axes defined by the hand track    systems.-   D. The hand grip which is sliding received by the rail for movement    along the longitudinal axis of the rail and for rotation about the    longitudinal axis of the rail.

The item A are relation between cable and pulley, many of the prior arthad already disclosed this knowledge, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,027(Fritz Henry Gehri) license date in 1955 Aug. 23, disclosed the samepulley-cable combination. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,752 (Sam Kupperman)license date in 1976 Dec. 28 disclosed a pulley-cord with adjustablehand grips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,240 (Virgil M. Dunston) license date in1977 Nov. 29, disclosed a design to adjust cord length of pulley-corddevice. U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,119 (Richard T. Robertson, Jr) license datein 1990 Aug. 14, disclosed an independent resistance device (same asindependent systems including return mechanism mention in U.S. Pat. No.4,948,119) for simultaneous pulling movement use, so it is a well knownknowledge of the usage of pulley and cable combination.

The item B shows the rail and the pulley are Installed separately.

The item C shows the pulleys installed in a higher position of theenclosure than the rails.

The item D states the slide sleeves will rotate on the rail.

The facts about the straight hand track of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,634(John Profaci) is:

-   1. The paddle assembly will roll when sliding along a rail.-   2. The paddle assembly keeps not rotated by a guiding board of the    enclosure.-   3. The cable is possible to derail from the pulleys because the    rails are horizontally but not vertically installed, even if the    pulleys are installed a little bit higher than the rails, as when    the horizontal forces made by the user disappear, the cable is in a    relaxed condition, and the gravity is not able to help the    horizontal cable remain on the grooves of the pulleys.-   4. The tracks and the pulleys are firmly fixed on the enclosure and    are not intend to adjust for different users.

In order to satisfy our need, the rotatable hand grip will change to anot rotating paddle and further to solve the problem of derailment.

According to the requirements of item 3, a good body rotation mechanismis the one which only rotates the body (as shown in FIG. 7A) but notmoves the body (as shown in FIG. 15). The prior body rotation inventionsare divided into two categories:

-   1. The inverted pendulum movement (which is not a rotation motion    but a swing motion) (as shown in FIG. 15):    -   As long as there is a combination of a supporting board rotated        by a shaft, no matter how the rotating shaft is under the        supporting board or passes through the center of the supporting        board, as the supporting board rotates around the shaft, the        lying body on top of it is doing an inverted pendulum movement.        It means the body center rotates around the rotating shaft but        not itself, the body moves from left to right and from top to        bottom. When the body tilts to one side form the highest middle        point, the body center is below the highest middle point, it's        laborious to against gravity and to make the body return to the        highest middle point and then reach to the other side lower        point, it takes strength to lift the center of gravity of the        body for back and force swing. In actual experiment, once the        body tilt to one side, many users failed to tilt the body back        to the highest middle point, even if they did, it shows that the        body and the head are in a continuous back and forth swing, this        is not the expected motions we want as the fact that the head        won't offset to the right or left when swim. If a sink is        installed in front of it, the user's head will swing back and        forth and cannot stay steady above the sink to practice        breathing. The inverted pendulum movement is totally different        from actual swimming body rotation and should not be adopted for        an ideal body rotation mechanism. This would include devices        such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,601,103 (Her-Chun hen),        U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,764 B2 (Brian Zuckerman), U.S. Pat. No.        6,790,164 (James Davis), U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,899 (William R.        Rassman), U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,251 (Robert H. Sleamaker), U.S.        Pat. No. 5,158,513 (Michael P. Reeves), U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,775        (Jesse B. Hudson).-   2. The body rotation movement (as shown in FIG. 7A):    -   U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,775 (Jesse B. Hudson) license date in 1938        Mar. 1 has shown an arc shaped body support was adopted in        swimming machine, nevertheless, this invention with arc shaped        body support didn't promise a true body rotation effect because        its underside part is a shaft and the shaft will pivot the arc        shaped body support, therefore swing the above body, this        invention shows the arc shaped body support had been used but        cannot ensure a pure body rotation movement (as shown in FIG.        15B).    -   U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,564 (Michael P. Doane), license date in 1995        Jul. 4, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane), license date        in 1997 May 13, U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci) license        date in 2000 Jan. 7 are three nice approaches to body rotation        mechanisms. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane) is        modified from U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,564 (Michael P. Doane), this        two can be regarded as one. So only two of the above three        inventions left for discussion.

The body rotation features of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P.Doane) is: (for easy to watch, we redraw a perspective illustration ofthe invention as shown in FIG. 16)

-   1. It is a rolling rotation movement.-   2. The bottom of the torso support has two curved tracks (called the    crescent shaped support pieces) rest upon two pairs of rollers.-   3. The rollers are grooved such that the curved tracks sit in the    grooves of them to prevent the torso support from any forward or    rearward movement.-   4. Use springs or resilient bands serve to fix the torso support    down to the rollers. The spring or resilient bands also help to pull    the body from rolled down position back to the neutral position.

The body rotation features of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci)is:

-   1. It is a sliding rotation movement.-   2. The lower frame and the above tray are coupled by bearing    structures.-   3. The lower frame is a curved surface base which is a sliding part.-   4. The underside of the tray has curved races to engage the curved    tracks on the frame and a channel of the frame for receiving a stop    of the tray.-   5. For purposes of safety, an elastic band attached to and extending    between the tray and stationary portions of the table, for    stabilizing the tray relative to frame or to bias the tray toward a    neutral (centered) position.

The similarities between the above mentioned patents are:

-   1. Both have either projected or recessed tracks to guide the    rotation. One is curved races of upper torso support to grooves of    rollers and the other is curved races of tray to engage the curved    tracks of frame.-   2. Both of their contact interfaces of rotation, by side view, are    not at the ends of the torso support or the tray.-   3. Both have elastic band or resilient bands to stabilize the upper    torso support or tray.

The reason why elastic band be used to secure the body rotationmechanism is because of the contact interfaces of rotation is in themiddle section, the length of the two contact interface is shorter thanthe length of above torso support or tray, this is an unstablecondition, when a force applied on the front edge or the rear edge ofthe torso support or the tray, a bending moment is formed to turn overthe torso support or the tray, so the spring or resilient bands is toresist the bending moment. But the spring or resilient bands also limitthe rotation effect of the torso support and the tray. We will abandonthe use of the spring or resilient bands and be more stable by improvedsupporting structure.

According to the requirements of item 4, the overall dimensions of thebody rotation mechanism should be as compact as possible and should notbe too big to obstruct the arm movement under the body along the bodycenter line.

The lower frame of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci) is a fixedrigid body, the dimensions of the lower frame won't change, when theabove tray rotates from side to side, the lower frame is remain intact,the arm moves to the back will be restricted by the top edges of thelower frame, the arm is hardly to move along the body as we can see fromthe end elevation view that the unchanged lower frame stops the way. Infact this body rotation mechanism only provide a first half space forthe arms, there is no enough room for arms pushing to the second halfspace under the body like swimming, forced the rails of the hand tracksbe installed on the opposite sides of the table from its middle portion.

The lower part of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane) is asingle beam, because strings are used for the arms movement, no armsguide tried to install under the body rotation mechanism.

Another U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,049 (James H. Davis) has a different bodyrotation mechanism, but has the same problem that there is no spacereserved for arms movement under the body.

According to the requirements of item 5, a suitable pad for legs is theone which has more downward sloping than the inclined board. The reasonis when we kick in the water, our legs start near the water level andfinish under the water with some depth, the position of the underwaterleg is more downward sloping than the body line, so we installed aninclined pad on the second half of the inclined board for legs to kickwith the foot straight as in swimming. My point of view is let the padprovide a space for the legs to kick freely and support them when notkick, guide the legs with any modules is not necessary because user cancontrol the legs doing a simple up and down motion and they will notdeviate. In fact, with foot straight and use the instep to kick the padsurface is the key point to be noticed and can promise forwardpropulsion be produced when in swimming.

The prior art about the lower body support are fall into the followingcategories:

-   1. Feet are guided or bounded so leg kick by the instep cannot be    performed. This would include devices such as U.S. Pat. No.    7,104,931 (Robert Marc Saul), U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,320 (Huei-Nan Yu),    U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,060 (John J. Murray), U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,426    (James P. Glavin), U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,748 (Oscar L. Little), U.S.    Pat. No. 5,158,513 (Michael P. Reeves), U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,363    (Robert J. Kennedy).-   2. The whole support pad doesn't bend from the middle. They are flat    surface to support the user from head to foot, be horizontal or    tilted placed, but there is no bending downwards since the middle    point of the support for legs to kick like swim. This would include    devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,585,256 (David Day Harbaugh), U.S.    Pat. No. 7,044,818 (Craig Askins), U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,163 (Keith    Van De Laarschot), U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,634 (John Profaci),

The U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane) illustrates its fonttorso support is sloped upward from the horizontal hip support; this iscontrary to my concept. If we observe the swim posture of freestyleunder water, we can find the legs are kicking downward relative to thebody which is in the level.

According to the requirements of item 6, a breathing sink appeared forthe first time could be added as a useful tool for a complete practiceof swimming on land, allows user concentrate on breathing practice andwill not be as nervous in the water.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The design of the swimming machine is very subjective, inventors buildit by their personal perception of swimming, and I always compare theswimming profile on my invention to my swimming posture in the water,try to make then consistent. A view of an embodiment of freestyle of theinvention is shown in FIG. 2 for the following description.

The first thing is to support the full body from head to foot toe likefloat on water. The head position is a little higher than the foot whenswimming, so I use an elongated and inclined board to support the bodyon land to simulate the floating on the water.

The arm and hand guide is necessary part which can guide the user tofamiliar with the arm and hand posture by self practice and reduce theburden of the coach. Our arm and hand guide module use two linear motionsystems (or hanging roller and hanging track) as straight line motionguidance which are readily available commodities for any linear motionto use, each has a slide block on the rail and the sliding block cancarry thing to sliding on the rail (or has a hanging roller which canalso carry thing and sliding inside the track). First install a paddleon each of the slide block, then install a pulley which has outer casingdirectly on each of the front end of the rail, so each of the pulley isin combination with the rail and integrated as one, connect the twoslide blocks with a inelastic rope pass through the two pulleys, an armand hand guide module is assembled and ready for use. It is anindependent module which can be moved to any desired position tooperate, the rail prohibits the slide block to rotate and makes onlylinear motion, the slide block won′ t touch the flat bottom surface ofthe rail so the rail can be placed on any flat surface to operate themodule, the paddle locked on the top of the slide block is always fixedin a upright position and won′ t rotate because the slide block won′ trotate, the rope which connect the two paddles will not derail from thepulleys' grooves in any case because there are casings encase each ofthe pulleys, so the cable is always restricted inside the space createdby the casing and the pulley groove, the system is completelyindependent, as shown in FIG. 9. It can be suspended on the bracketsunder the inclined board with Velcro straps to stick on and is very easyto adjust the positions forward or rearward or the width between thepairs for fit different sizes of users. It can be removed from thesuspension brackets for storage quickly and easily. When for backstrokeuse (see FIG. 10 and FIG. 11), it is an easy job to move the arm andhand guide module from the underside brackets to the supports which isoutside of the opposing sides of the inclined board.

The arms and hand guide module is a straight track with a locked, notrotating paddle rather than the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci)using the contoured, S-shaped tracks with rotatable paddle assembly, thereasons are as follows:

-   1. In my personal point of view, the straight arm path stroke is    consistent with the trend of modern swimming technique. Straight    tracks positioned under and parallel to the body center line can    guide the user to maintain streamlined body shape. If we watched the    2012 London Olympics' underwater camera you will see the swimmers    drop their arm immediately rather than taking the long route of the    S-shape. Dropping your arm results in more direct propulsion force    to the back rather than making an S-shape movement that will    disperse rearward force.-   2. The S shape stroke is always right if you look at a freestyler's    hand from outside bystanders, as it is a combined motion of body    rotation and hand pull. But from the freestyler's own perspective,    it is always not necessary to imitate the S-shape pull by hand    because combine the contoured, S-shaped path stroke together with    body rotation but will distort the forward motion.

The arm and hand guide module give the user a good guideline to do thepull and push of the arm stroke, but the arm is in a horizontalstraightening posture before pull the paddle back. When in practice, ahorizontal hand stay is used to attract the arm straight forward andhold the arm on the horizon. The horizontal hand stay is a plate withtelescopic rods installed on the forefront of the inclined board aheadof the user's head. It is retractable and can guide the arm straight tofront and make the arm remains horizontal. Conjunction use of the armand hand guide module and the horizontal hand stay, as shown in FIG. 19,will guide the user to achieve a complete swimming arm cycle.

The most distinctive difference with the other inventions is a breathingsink be installed on the forefront gap of the inclined board forbreathing practice. No patent reports about breathing sink have everbeen found in swim simulator categories. The breathing sink is packedinto the front support frame which is the surrounding of the forefrontgap of the inclined board. Several blocking things surround the supportframe are used to secure the breathing sink. It is better to use atransparent sink for eyes to see far because we don't like our sight beblocked by a very closed article such as the inclined board, by seeingthrough the transparent breathing sink and the forefront gap of theinclined board, the user can as seen in the swimming pool water. Even ifpractice swimming on the land, the breathing sink with water insidegives the user a similar scene like swimming pool. With the emergence ofthe breathing sink, user can practice the complete swimming skills withbreathing on land before entering the water. It is very excited for theuser to go to the swimming pool to check if he has learned to swim withon land practice.

For freestyle, the breathing sink must be work with a body rotationmechanism to perform the breathing movement otherwise we have to turnour heads alone for getting a breath. The neck will hurt with such turn.Breathing for people tends to be the hardest concept to get whileputting together the whole strokes. It is why the invention intend tobuild a breathing sink on the inclined board to practice breathingtogether with the arms and legs movements. Users may in an unhurried wayto practice swimming. But a sink only cannot perform freestyle breathingmovement because our body needs to roll from side to side when webreathe; our heads are actually rolled when the body rolls, to get thatbreath. Since breathing is to rotate the body and the head together,breathing need to turn the head about 90 degrees (from face downdirection to face right or face left directions) to get a breath, withthe help of a body rotation mechanism, rotate the body for 45 degreesfirst, for example, then turn the head for the rest 45 degrees to get abreathe. Thus a simulator with good body rotation mechanism is necessaryto assist the freestyle breathing be achieved.

For body rotation mechanism, to solve the bending moment problem and thestable problem of the prior arts, we use an arc panel (or called curvedplate) for a contact surface for rotation instead of the crescent shapedsupport pieces of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane) and thecurved races of the tray of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci),thus the narrow area of the races or tracks for rotation is substitutedby a large piece of curved surface; the whole convex surface of the arcpanel is a surface for contact and rotation. Next, support the arc panelwith at least two cylindrical conveyor rollers to replace the smallcontact interfaces of the grooved rollers of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632(Michael P. Doane) and the small contact interfaces of the channel onthe frame of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,912 (John Profaci), therefore, thenew supporting region covers the whole upper body of the user. Thecylindrical conveyor rollers holds the arc panel and drives the arcpanel to rotate, as shown in FIG. 5. A view of different combinations ofrolling elements is shown in FIG. 6. From the side view, there is norisk that a bending moment will happen to turn over the arc panelbecause the center of gravity of the above body always falls inside thefront and back support limits of the cylindrical conveyor rollers, sothe body rotation mechanism is in a very stable from front to back. Nextby the front view, two cylindrical conveyor rollers installed at outmostend points of the inclined board are as wide as the width of the arcpanel, but not exceed the width of the arc panel, for a stable support,this can promise the center gravity of the above body supported by thearc panel will never exceed the supporting limits of the outmost twocylindrical conveyor rollers. Several bolts are installed on twoopposite edges of the arc panel with arbitrary level for set and limitthe rotation angle of the arc panel and could prevent the arc panel turnover from lateral sides.

In the prior art, in order to fasten or stabilize the torso support orthe tray, the elastic band are used. However, the elastic band become abrake of these mechanisms, it means the more angle you rotate your body,the longer the elastic band stretched, and the more efforts you have topay, the resistance of the elastic band will cause the user to spentmore effort to rotate the body, this is contrary to the body rotation ofswimming, when we swim in water, the bodies rotate effortlessly, a bodyrotation mechanism should be rotate freely without the binding force(the elastic band is one of the binding force) and can drive the body torotate effortlessly, so the prior inventions with elastic band designdidn't satisfy our expectation of body rotation mechanism.

When the axial torque and lateral stability problems of the prior artare resolved by an example of conjunction use of the arc panel (orcurved plate) and the conveyor rollers, a new problem arise: will therotation center of the body match the rotation center of the arc panelnaturally? The answer is no. There are three rotation conditions for thearc panel.

First, an inverted pendulum motion caused by the rotation center of thebody is higher than the rotation center of the arc panel, as shown inFIG. 17B; the reason is the diameter of the arc panel is too small forthe body or the pad is too thick. This is the same condition as thesupporting board and a rotation shaft condition. The body center isabove the rotation center of the arc panel so it is unstable and notsuitable for a body rotation mechanism.

Second, a true body rotation motion caused by the rotation center of thebody is the same height as the rotation center of the arc panel. Thiscondition is achieved by using a proper thickness of pad to elevate thebody's center to match the rotation center of the arc panel, as shown inFIG. 7A; the body will perform a pure body rotation effect just likeswimming does, so it is good to be used for freestyle because the properpad not only overlap the body center and the rotation center of the arcpanel but also release the chest pressure.

Third, a pendulum motion caused by the rotation center of the body islower than the rotation center of the arc panel. This condition isachieved by let the body lying directly inside the arc panel with no pador with less pad, as shown in FIG. 17A. The body center is below therotation center of the arc panel so it is super stable because once thebody rotates to one side, it will be pulled back to the middle bygravity. This is suitable for backstroke use, as shown in FIG. 7B;because the back spines won't feel support pressure like chest, withfewer pads or without pad is not matter. The auto back to middle effectmakes the backstroke motion easy and stable, besides, the eyes is in ahigher level than the body center, it is close to level of the rotationcenter of the arc panel, makes user feel no swing of head. A view inFIG. 7B shows the backstroke with a pendulum motion.

To sum up, an apropos arc panel for user means the arc panel is biggerenough to hold the body's chest, but not too wide to obstruct the armsmovement. When pad properly, the two centers overlap and is good forfreestyle use. When there is no pad or less pad inside the arc panel,the rotation center of the body is below the rotation center of the arcpanel, a pendulum motion formed (as shown in FIG. 17A) and is suitablefor backstroke use. On the contrary, if padded too high, the overelevated body will swing around the rotation center of the arc panel, aninverted pendulum motion is formed (as shown in FIG. 17B) and is notgood for body rotation mechanism. We can prepare several thickness ofthe semi-circular pad to elevate the body's height for different usersuntil the two centers overlap for a comfortable body rotation but neverover padded. Velcro straps are used to fix the semi-circular pad insidethe arc panel for easy replacement.

For breaststroke and butterfly, the body don't rotate, the body rotationmechanism is not necessary, a not rotating regular torso pad is enoughfor them, as shown in FIG. 14 for breaststroke and FIG. 18 forbutterfly. But keeping a body rotation mechanism in use has the meritfor practice the body balances because the arc panel will shake the bodya small amount of left to right as if the body is in an unbalancedcondition in the water. FIG. 13 shows a breaststroke practice with thebody rotation mechanism.

For backstroke, breathing sink is unnecessary, a pillow is instead forsupport the face up head, the body rotation mechanism is needed for faceup body rotation practice, as shown in FIG. 10.

Legs provide several functions for swimming, some of which directly aidthe propulsion, some of which lift the body, some of which balance thearm. So it is necessary to have a surface to provide legs performingabove multi-functions for leg kicking practice. So the leg supportshould slope downward from the longitudinal body line.

The inclined kicking pad of my invention is an inclined surface padwhich has a downward inclined surface relative to the to the inclinedboard surface, as shown in FIG. 8A. Without the lower body supportingpad, legs and feet are nowhere to rest on and all the pressure of thebody weight will concentrate on the upper body which is the chest andbelly position, the chest is uncomfortable under this condition. Withthe inclined kicking pad to support the lower body, the body pressure isevenly distributed to the whole body just like the buoyancy of the waterpropped the body. The downward inclined surface of the inclined kickingpad represents a downward maximum foot kicking angle, user may gentlylift his leg up to horizontal line and then kick with the instepdownward to touch the inclined surface, the inclined surface will givethe instep a reaction force like water does, thus guide the user tofamiliar with a small and steady kick of insteps, as shown in FIG. 8B.The most important function of the inclined pad is to provide a propersurface for the kicking legs to coordinate the movement of the armstroke and breathing. Coach may instruct the students to swim withprecise timing because the body is always keep Swimming posturesupported by the inclined board. For breaststroke, legs are doinglongitudinal axial movement; it will retract to the front and kick tothe back. A triangle cross section between the legs is formed when thelegs retract to the front, we use a column pad which is a bigger bottomarea and a smaller top area, to fill the entire space between the legs,as shown in FIG. 14, when the legs retract toward the front, they areguided by the sides of the pad; when the kick is completed, allow thestraight and closed legs rest on the small area of the top.

With proper combination of the above mentioned special technicalfeatures, swim simulators for different strokes are assembled asfollows:

A swim simulator for freestyle includes (as shown in FIG. 1):

an inclined board with an opening at the forefront,

a breathing sink,

a body rotation mechanism,

an inclined kicking pad,

a horizontal hand stay and

an arm and hand guide module which is suspended under the inclined boardand the connecting rope of the two tracks is an inelastic one to performalternating movement of the two paddles.

A swim simulator for backstroke includes (as shown in FIG. 20):

an inclined board,

a pillow,

a body rotation mechanism,

an inclined kicking pad and

an arm and hand guide module which is support or suspended withindependent level supports beside the inclined board and the connectingrope of the two tracks is an inelastic one to perform alternatingmovement of the two paddles.

A swim simulator for butterfly includes (as shown in FIG. 18):

an inclined board with an opening at the forefront,

a breathing sink,

a not rotating regular torso pad,

an inclined kicking pad,

a horizontal hand stay and

an arm and hand guide module which is suspended under the inclined boardwhich the connecting rope is an elastic one to perform synchronizedmotion of the two paddles.

The swim simulators of butterfly and freestyle have lot in common, wecan use the swim simulator of freestyle to practice butterfly just putthe inelastic connecting rope into an elastic one, allow the two paddlesdo the synchronized motion like the arm stroke of butterfly. But on theother hand, without the body rotation mechanism, the swim simulator ofbutterfly is not suitable be used for freestyle practice.

A swim simulator for breaststroke includes (as shown in FIG. 14):

an inclined board with an opening at the forefront,

a breathing sink,

a not rotating regular torso pad,

a specialized breaststroke kicking pad which has cross section oftrapezoid or semicircle.

a horizontal hand stay and

an arm and hand guide module which is suspended under the inclined boardwhich the connecting rope is an elastic one to perform synchronizedaction of the two paddles.

A simplified swim simulator with minimum elements of the abovecombinations is a board with the body rotation mechanism plus a pad forlegs is enough for practice swimming on land, as shown in FIG. 21. Asrotation of the body is the major simulation movement on land, once wecan rotate our body on a dry land like swim, the arms are free to movealong the body center line under the board, a basic swimming trainingcan be achieved on land. For experienced swimmer, without arm and handguide, he can perform his own way of arm stroke.

The present invention allow user to do the same swimming movements suchas freestyle, backstroke, buttery and breaststroke, furthermore, evenswimming breathing can be practiced together with. The present inventioncomprises the adequate lengths of inclined board to support the wholebody. The first appeared swimming breathing sink has achieved breathingon land. The body rotation mechanism not only makes rotation for thebody but also reserves space for the arms to move under the body. Theinclined kicking pad is a surface for legs to kick and allow the legs tocoordinate with arms and breathing. The breaststroke trapezoidal columnpad especially for breaststroke kicks practice. The straight line armand hand guide module works with the horizontal hand stay to practicethe complete arm movement, all together achieve the goal of simulatingswimming on land. Our theory is, once you can do the right swimmingtechnique on land, you can learn to swim very soon. The theory has beenconfirmed to be true by an experiment of a six year old not swim boy whohad practiced swimming with the invention for four times within twoweeks, then try a test swim in the water, reached for 20 meters withbreathings.

The object of the present invention is to provide a swim simulator whichcan practice a complete swimming movement on land which includesbreathing.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide those schoolswhich have no swimming pools a new tool and method to teach swimming byusing the swim simulator on land.

It is thus an object of the present invention to substitute the swimmingpool as the only mean for swimming teaching and learning place, allowingcoaches to demonstrate swimming technique and correct the students'swimming movement on land.

Another object of the present invention is to create a body rotationmechanism for simulating the body rotation effect of freestyle andbackstroke on land by use of the arc panel and underside rollingelements.

Another object of the present invention guides the user to becomefamiliar with the arm cycle by use of the combination of the arm andhand guide module and the horizontal hand stay.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a linear motionarm and hand guide module to guide the user's arms to do swimming strokealong the sides of the shoulders for backstroke.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a quick releasearm and hand guide module which can be assembled and disassembledquickly from freestyle use to backstroke use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inclinedkicking pad which gives legs and feet a surface to rest and to practicelegs kick with insteps.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a specializedbreaststroke kicking pad which is a trapezoid column pad, gives straightlegs a narrow surface to rest and retract the legs along the two beveledges of the trapezoidal column to practice legs kicking ofbreaststroke.

Advantageously, the present invention allows user to practice a jointmotion of arms, legs and breathing, all work together, with a slow oreven paused pose to check each action is correct or not, user maycompletely ignore the buoyancy problem which will be faced when practicein water because the inclined board always support the body and the userdoesn't has to hold his breath to practice arms and legs jointmovements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing theappliance in accordance with the present invention to swim freestyle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of a swimming appliance inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an exemplary appliance of theswimming breathing sink embodying the invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded schematic view of an exemplary appliance of themirrors placed in the side walls of the sink embodying the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of one of the embodiments of body rotationmechanism from exploded view to assembled diagram.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of various exemplary structures ofthe underside rolling support parts of the body rotation mechanism ofthe invention.

FIG. 7A is a front sequential schematic view showing a user rolls by thebody rotation mechanism of the invention for freestyle will always keepthe body in the center.

FIG. 7B is a front sequential schematic view of the invention showing auser rolls by the body rotation mechanism with less or no pad inside tomake a stable auto back to middle motion for backstroke.

FIG. 8A is a side elevational view of the embodiment of the inventionwhich the surface of the inclined kicking pad is a downward slope withrespect to the inclined board and is suitable for the kick practice offreestyle, backstroke and butterfly.

FIG. 8B is a side elevational view showing a user practice the legs kickwith the instep flat on the inclined kicking pad to simulate the kick inwater.

FIG. 9 includes FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C which shows the independentarm and hand guide module is a combination of linear motion systems,shelled pulleys, paddles and rope.

FIG. 9A is an exploded view shows a hanging roller inside each of thetracks.

FIG. 9B is a perspective illustration shows an embodiment of theinvention of the arm and hand guide module which is a combination oftracks, hanging rollers, shelled pulleys, paddles and rope.

FIG. 9C is a perspective illustration shows an embodiment of theinvention of the arm and hand guide module which is a combination ofrails, sliding blocks shelled pulleys, paddles and rope.

FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing theappliance in accordance with the present invention for freestyle topractice backstroke with the breathing sink replaced by a pillow and usefour level stands outside the inclined board to support the arm and handguide module.

FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing theappliance in accordance with the present invention for freestyle topractice backstroke with the breathing sink replaced by a pillow and useinvert suspension brackets on each of the four level stands to suspendthe arm and hand guide module upside down.

FIG. 12 is a front elevational view showing a user utilizing theappliance in accordance with the present invention to practicebackstroke with adjustable suspension bracket installed on the undersideof the inclined board to support and adjust the arm and hand guidemodule.

FIG. 13 is a sequential schematic view of the embodiment of theinvention for breaststroke with the inclined kicking paid replaced witha trapezoidal column pad, allowing legs to do the kicks of breaststroke.

FIG. 14 is a perspective illustration of the embodiment of the inventionfor breaststroke practice which the body rotation mechanism shown inFIG. 13 is replaced by the general torso pad which will not rotate thebody.

FIG. 15 is a front sequential schematic view showing whether it is aflat (see FIG. 15A) or a curved (see FIG. 15B) body support, as long asit is driven by a shaft underneath, will cause the above body swayingand off the center line.

FIG. 16 is a perspective illustration of a redraw of the prior artinvention of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,632 (Michael P. Doane).

FIG. 17A shows the body lying on the arc panel without pad will sway andoff the center line like a motion of pendulum.

FIG. 17B shows the body lying on the arc panel with an excessively thickpad will sway and off the center line like a motion of invert pendulumas shown in FIG. 15.

FIG. 18 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing theappliance in accordance with the present invention to swim butterfly.

FIG. 19 is a perspective illustration of the embodiment of the arm andhand guide used in conjunction with the horizontal hand stay for acomplete arm stroke movement.

FIG. 20 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing acustomized appliance in accordance with the present invention specialfor the backstroke use.

FIG. 21 is a perspective illustration showing a user utilizing thesimplified appliance in accordance with the present invention topractice the coordination of the whole body.

The same reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout thevarious Figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment swim simulator which is to implementthe swimming of freestyle. One embodiment of the swim simulator as shownIn FIG. 2 is generally comprised of an inclined board 1 which issupported by descending straight line arranged supporting legs 2. Thereare three different height of supporting legs with arithmetic proportionin this example, which are the shortest supporting leg 21, the longersupporting leg 22 and the longest supporting leg 23, formed a inclinedsupporting line. With three legs can prevent the inclined board 1 frombending caused by body weight above it. We use the inclined board 1rather than a horizontal placed board is to match the true swimmingstance, which means the head is higher than the foot when swimming.There is an opening at the front edge of the inclined board 1 which iscalled the forefront opening 11 and allows the user to see through theinclined board 1 for release pressure of eyesight.

Above the forefront opening 11 is installed a swimming breathing sinkkit 3 which is fixed in position by numbers of blocking things 31surround the forefront opening 11. These blocking things 31 can preventthe swimming breathing sink kit 3 from dumping. FIG. 3 shows an exampleof the blocking things 31 around the swimming breathing sink kit 3. Theswimming breathing sink kit 3 includes a transparent sink 32 which willgive the user a good vision to see the front view by seeing through boththe transparent sink 32 and the forefront opening 11. For practicingswimming breathing, a half full of water is added inside the transparentsink 32 first, mirrors 33 could be stick to the side walls of thetransparent sink 32 for the user to view his breathing, as shown in FIG.4.

An example of body rotation mechanism 4 is shown in FIG. 5, which isinstalled right after the swimming breathing sink kit 3, is capable ofrotating the body rather than swinging the body. It comprises of twoparts, the upper part and the under part, the upper part is an arc panel41 hold a semicircular column pad 47, the under part is called undersiderolling support parts 44. The function of the arc panel 41 withsemicircular column pad 47 is to receive an upper body of the user anddrive the upper body to rotate. The underside rolling support parts 44consists of numbers of cylindrical conveyor rollers 45 or theequivalents and its function is to support and roll the arc panel 41,several different underside rolling support parts 44 are shown in FIG.6. In this example, the under part consist of two cylindrical conveyorrollers 45 for convenience, installed on the inclined board 1 withlocating tabs 46, side by side with a lateral width smaller than butclose to the projection width of the arc panel 41, thus the arc panel 41will rotate about its own rotation center but will not overturn. Becausethe inclined board 1 will cause the arc panel 41 slide to the back whenrotating on the two cylindrical conveyor rollers 45, a rolling barriercomponent 48 is installed right after the arc panel 41 for stop it frommoving and rotate it with low friction. For assemble convenience, theunderside rolling support parts 44 and the rolling barrier component 48can be installed on abase plate 441 first, then fix the whole parts onthe inclined board 1.

We reserved some space between the cylindrical conveyor rollers 45 andthe sides' edge of the inclined board 1 for installing an anti-sliparmrest 9 on both sides of the inclined board 1 as shown in FIG. 2. Theanti-slip armrest 9 is a hand stays for the user easy to get on and offthe inclined board 1. The above arc panel 41 is a curved plate,supported by the two conveyor rollers 45, they will perform contactrotation, the arc panel 41 will rotate about its virtual rotationcenter, and the conveyor rollers 45 will rotate at its fixed axis. Forelevating the body center of the above user to match the virtualrotation center of the arc panel 41, we can use thin mats layer by layerto increase the thickness of a semicircular column pad 47, elevating thecenter of the body to overlap the virtual rotation center of the arcpanel 41, so when the arc panel 41 rolls, the body will also rotatesabout the center of itself, thus, a true body rotation movement isachieved, as shown in FIG. 7A. For different body type, fat or thin, wemay prepare several different thicknesses of semicircular column pads 47to fit everyone. The semicircular column pads 47 can be fastened insidethe arc panel 41 with Velcro straps for easy replacement.

The head of the user will keep in its original position when the bodyrotates with this body rotation mechanism 4. Several symmetrical highand low adjusting holes 42 are drilled on the sides of the arc panel 41,as shown in FIG. 5, with some of the adjusting bolts 43 screwed on someof the desired adjusting holes 42, we can control the rotation angle andprevent turnover of the arc panel 41. The body rotation mechanism 4 isso stable that when we push the arc panel 41 to one side and thenrelease, it will oscillating and back to the neutral position in the endautomatically by gravity, so when the body lying above the arc panel 41and rolls, it will roll back and forth with ease. Besides, nolongitudinal axle bending moment will happen on this body rotationmechanism 4 because the under conveyor rollers 45 support the upper arcpanel 41 from front to the end, so no fasten things such as rubber bandsare needed to fasten the torso support. Besides, replace a differentsize of the arc panel 41, for example, different diameter or differentlength, for different body type is just a pick it up and put it downprocedures.

An inclined kicking pad 5 installed immediately after the body rotationmechanism 4. FIG. 8A shows an inclined kicking pad 5 which is a trianglefrom side view and a rectangle from top view. Because the legs kickingof swimming are downward to some depth relative to the longitudinal bodycenter line, the surface of the inclined kicking pad 5 has a more slopedownward relative to the inclined board 1. The surface of the inclinedkicking pad 5 is a preset downward kicking slope for legs, whenpracticing downward kicking, use the instep to kick the inclined kickingpad 5, make the instep as closely aligns to the surface as possible forgetting efficient kick. The surface will provide a reaction force likewater resistance to the foot, as shown in FIG. 8B. A further importantfunction of the inclined kicking pad 5 is to provide legs kick tocoordinate with the arms movement, allowing the user to practice timingand the rhythm of the combined movements of arms and legs, finally,swimming breathing will be joined for a complete swimming techniquepractice on land. The inclined kicking pad 5 is a simple but importantboard for the practice of the kick of freestyle, backstroke andbutterfly.

An arm and hand guide module 6 is a guidance of all strokes, forfreestyle, it is suspended by brackets 61 under the inclined board 1. Weuse the linear motion systems which are mature and readily availablecommodities as the straight-line gliding mechanism. It is consist of atrack 62 to guide a hanging roller 63 or a rail 64 to guide a slidingblock 65, as shown in FIG. 9. The track 62 and the hanging roller 63 areoperated in a upside down position compared to its normal use, so thehanging roller 63 can moves inside the track 62 and allowing a paddle 66be installed on top of the standup hanging roller 63. When using therail 64 and the sliding block 65, the paddle 66 is installed directly ontop of the sliding block 65. A shell pulley 67 is installed at the frontend of the track 62, we need two sets of this linear motion systems forboth arms, by connecting both paddles 66 through the shell pulleys 67with a inelastic connecting rope 68, the two paddles 66 on each hangingroller 63 are linked now and the inelastic connecting rope 68 will notderail in any case, no matter the inelastic connecting rope 68 is tightor loose, the paddles 66 will guide the arms to do the freestyle armcycle by turns. The arm and hand guide module 6 can be fixed on thebrackets 61 with screws, but for easy to adjust and quick releases,Velcro straps are used to secure the tracks 62 on the brackets 61. Whendifferent users come to use one after another, it is very quick toadjust the track 62 position back and forth to fit each user's handposition. Because the tracks 62 exceed the inclined board 1 a lot, whennot in use, we can take down the arm and hand guide module 6 from thebrackets and store it under the inclined board 1 for space saving.

A horizontal hand stays 7 is consist of two parts, a set of telescopicrails 71 and a palm-rest plate 72, as shown in FIG. 8A. The telescopicrails 71 are installed under the forefront opening 11 of the inclinedboard 1; the palm-rest plate 72 is installed on the other end of thetelescopic rails 71. By stretching the telescopic rails 71, we canadjust the position of the palm rest plate 72, for matching hand ofdifferent arm length to stay, as shown in FIG. 8B. The horizontal handstays 7 will be used in conjunction with the arm and hand guide module 6to perform the complete arm cycle of swimming. The horizontal hand stays7 is responsible for the palm entering the water period and the arm andhand guide module 6 is responsible for the following pull, push andrecovery periods and back to the palm-rest plate 72 for the next armcycle. The palm-rest plate 72 will keep the front arm maintaining levelto reduce forward resistance while the other arm is pushing the paddle66 back to the thigh meanwhile the feet are kicking downward to theinclined kicking pad 5. The combined use of the arm and hand guide 6 andthe horizontal hand stays 7 is shown in FIG. 19

An elastic mark rod 8 is fixed on two opposite sides of the inclinedboard 1 adjacent to the sink 3 as shown in FIG. 2. The purpose of theelastic mark rod 8 is a marking of water level, for reminding the userto raise his arm high enough to cross the water surface when the armrecovered to the front of the arm cycle. Without the elastic mark rod 8,novices often forget keeping their elbows high during recovery period,the mark rod 8 could be folded under the surface when users familiarwith arm stroke.

An anti-slip armrest 9 is installed on two opposite sides of theinclined board 1 adjacent to the body rotation mechanism 4 as shown inFIG. 2. It provides the user a place to grab for getting on and off theinclined board 1.

For backstroke, the swimming breathing sink 3 is replaced by a pillow 34for supporting the head and the horizontal hand stays 7 is not needed.The arms stroke of the backstroke are along the sides of the body,unlike the arms are under the body of freestyle, so the two tracks 62 ofthe arm and hand guide module 6 is moved to positions parallel to andwith a distance outside the inclined board 1. Three embodiments areshown here, one is the arm and hand guide module 6 be placed beside theinclined board 1 and the paddles 66 position are below the body level,as shown in FIG. 10, the arm moves in a wide and deep pull and push,each track 62 is supported by two independent level stands 10, choose aproper width between inclined board 1 and the tracks 62 for differentuser's need by adjusting the level stands 10 to create adequate spacefor the arm and elbow to move through. Because the two tracks 62 of thearm and hand guide module 6 is positioned wider than for freestyle, theconnecting rope 68 must be replaced by a longer one to compensate theincreased width between the two tracks 62, once the connecting rope 68is changed to a suitable one, the arm and hand guide module 6 is readyfor backstroke use. Another embodiment is hung upside down the arm andhand guide module 6 with the height above the body, by Installing theinvert suspension brackets 101 on the level stands 10 to increasesuspension height, the tracks are suspended upside down on the invertsuspension brackets 101, as shown in FIG. 11, this embodiment guides thearms doing a narrow arm pull and push stroke which the arms are veryclose to the sides of the body. The installation of the invertsuspension is a little bit complex than the previous one but runs verysmooth and may keep the body in a straight line move.

The other embodiment is to install four adjustable suspension brackets102 on the underside of the inclined board 1 as shown in FIG. 12. Thebackstroke suspension brackets 102 are articulated bracket which consistof plural of pipes connected by knuckle Joints, here we use thecombination of two pipes to demonstrate the assembly of one adjustablesuspension brackets 102, we need four of the two pipes for the frontpair and the rear pair, one end of the adjustable suspension brackets102 is fixed on the bench board 1 and the other end is to support thetrack 62, with the knuckle Joints, the joint angle of the adjustablesuspension brackets 102 can be adjusted between the bench board 1 andthe paddle 66, to match the unique arm need for different users.

For butterfly, as shown in FIG. 18, all parts are the same as used infreestyle except the following two, the body rotation mechanism 4 andthe arm and hand guide module 6. The body rotation mechanism 4 could bereplaced by a not rotating regular torso pad 49 for economicconsideration, but it is not necessary if you already have a bodyrotation mechanism 4 for freestyle because a left and right balance ofbody could be practiced with the little shake of the body rotationmechanism 4. The arm and hand guide module 6 for butterfly needs to movethe two paddles 66 with a synchronized motion, by replacing theinelastic connecting rope 68 used for freestyle with a elasticconnecting rope 69, the user can pull the two paddles 66 withsynchronized motion to the back, when both arms leave the paddles 66 andrecovered to the front horizontal hand stays 7, the two paddles hasalready pull to the front by the elastic connecting rope 69 and readyfor the next pull.

For breaststroke, all parts are the same as used in freestyle except thefollowing three, the body rotation mechanism 4, the arm and hand guidemodule 6 and the inclined kicking pad 5. The body rotation mechanism 4could be replaced by a not rotating regular torso pad 49 for avoidingthe rear edge of the arc panel 41 of the body rotation mechanism 4obstruct the legs retraction movement to the front as shown in FIG. 13.The arm and hand guide module 6 for breaststroke is the same type asused in butterfly with the connecting rope 69 be elastic and alsosuspend under the inclined board 1. To ensure unobstructed legs kickingpractice, replace the inclined kicking pad 5 by a specializedbreaststroke kicking pad 51 as shown in FIG. 14. When swimming,retracting legs of the breaststroke is done by spread out and bends thelegs to the front, a triangular or trapezoidal space is formed betweenthe two legs. We could use a pad which is a bottom wide and top narrowshape to match the angle of the spread legs, such as a trapezoid or asemicircle are two of the same types, here we use a trapezoidal columnas the example of the specialized breaststroke kicking pad 51. The topnarrow area is able to support the legs when the two legs are straighttoward the back and draw close, the bevel edges of the trapezoidalcolumn will support and guide the legs to spread and move to the front.When the legs kick to the back and will stay on the top narrow area withthe two legs straight again. In FIG. 21, the other embodiment is for thebeginners. By using only a narrow board to support the lying body and abody rotation mechanism 4 to rotate the bodies while the arms can movefreely under the bodies, plus an inclined kicking pad 5 or a readilyavailable common pad, is enough for them to practice the basic techniquewith a lying posture like swimming. Coaches may also demonstratededicated swimming skills with lie down posture and without thelimitation of the arm and hand guide module 6.

REFERENCE NUMERALS AND DESIGNATIONS

-   -   1. inclined board    -   11. forefront opening    -   2. descending straight line arranged supporting legs    -   21. the shortest supporting leg    -   22. the longer supporting leg    -   23. the longest supporting leg    -   24. adjustable supporting leg    -   25. hinge    -   3. swimming breathing sink    -   31. blocking things    -   32. transparent sink    -   33. mirror    -   34. pillow    -   4. body rotation mechanism    -   41. arc panel    -   42. adjusting hole    -   43. adjusting bolt    -   44. underside rolling support parts    -   441. base plate    -   45. conveyor roller    -   46. locating tab    -   47. semicircular column pad    -   48. rolling barrier component    -   49. not rotating regular torso pad    -   5. inclined kicking pad    -   51. specialized breaststroke kicking pad    -   6. arm and hand guide module    -   61. bracket    -   62. track    -   63. hanging roller    -   64. rail    -   65. sliding block    -   66. paddle    -   67. shell pulley    -   68. inelastic connecting rope    -   69. elastic connecting rope    -   7. horizontal hand stay    -   71. telescopic rail    -   72. palm rest plate    -   8. elastic mark rod    -   9. anti-slip armrest    -   10. level stand    -   101. invert suspension bracket    -   102. adjustable suspension bracket

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for practice the freestyle andbackstroke by a user on land, comprising: a high to low inclined boardfor supporting the user's full body length which has a forefrontopening. On the upper surface of the inclined board, successivelyinstalled, from front to back are: a horizontal hand stay, a swimmingbreathing sink, an upper body rotation mechanism, a lower bodysupporting pad, and an arm and hand guide module.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the inclined board is an downward inclined surface fromfront to back, by using several decreasing length of inverted T-shapedbench legs for supporting the inclined board.
 3. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the horizontal hand stay consists of a set of telescopic railsand a palm rest plate installed horizontally at the forefront of theinclined board so that the palm rest plate is adjustable in length andmay lead the arm keeping straight and horizontal, helping the handreducing ahead resistance and waiting for starting the next arm cyclemovement of swimming.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the arm andhand guide module comprises a pair of linear motion systems fitted withpaddles and shell pulleys. Each linear motion system comprises a slidingelement and a guide rail, a paddle is fixed on top of the slidingelement and a shell pulley is installed at the front end of the guiderail, an inelastic rope passes through the two shell pulleys andconnects to the two sliding elements. The two paddles are tracked witheach other and guide the arms and hands doing an alternating back andforth swimming movement.
 5. For freestyle, the apparatus of claim 4wherein the arm and hand guide module are installed under the inclinedboard.
 6. For backstroke, the apparatus of claim 4 wherein the arm andhand guide module are supported by separate level stands or invertsuspended by separate inverted suspension brackets outside the inclinedboard and parallel to the longitudinal center line of the inclinedboard, the inelastic rope is longer than the one used in freestyle for awider arrangement of the two guide rails.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the swimming breathing sink is secured above the inclinedboard's forefront opening by blocking things and provide the user achance to practice swimming breathing on land while he can see throughthe forefront opening from the breathing sink water for a good visionjust like swimming.
 8. For backstroke, the apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe swimming breathing sink is no longer needed and is replaced with apillow for support the face up head.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe body rotation mechanism is a mutual rolling system, comprising twoparts, the above part for rotating the body of a user and the under partfor rotating the above part, both of the two will rotate around theirown rotation centers when move together.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9wherein the above part comprises an arc panel and a detachable columnpad joined in its concave surface for supporting and rotating the user'sbody.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the under part comprises acombination of all kinds of itself can be rolled elements, fixed on abase frame to form an arc support surface for supporting the above arcpanel and rotating the above arc panel.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10wherein the arc panel which further includes blocking things Protrudingfrom the holes of the arc panel's both transverse sides and can beblocked by the under part to get the desired rotation angle and avoidthe arc panel from oversetting.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein arolling barrier component is fixed immediately after the body rotationmechanism and is in contact with the back edge of the arc panel to avoidthe arc panel backward sliding and can guide the arc penal to roll sideto side smoothly.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the lower bodysupporting pad is a kick pad with a inclined surface which has a furtherdownward inclined angle according to the inclined board surface for thelegs to do alternating kick with instep flat on the pad surface.
 15. Anapparatus for practice the butterfly and breaststroke by a user on land,comprising: a high to low inclined board for supporting the user's fullbody length which has a forefront opening as in claim
 1. On the uppersurface of the inclined board, successively installed, from front toback are: a horizontal hand stay as in claim 1, a swimming breathingsink as in claim 1, a not rotating regular torso pad for supporting theupper body a lower body supporting pad, and an arm and hand guide moduleas in claim
 1. 16. For the butterfly legs kick, the apparatus of claim15 wherein the lower body supporting pad is the same as in claim
 1. 17.For the breaststroke legs kick practice, the apparatus of claim 15wherein the lower body supporting pad is a pad with a larger surfacearea on bottom gradually converge to a smaller surface area on top whichallows both legs retract to the front along the pad's sides and letstraight and closed legs to stay on top of the smaller area after kick.18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the arm and hand guide module isthe same as in claim. 1 except the connecting rope is replaced with anelastic one to make the two paddles doing a synchronized motion and isinstalled under the inclined board.
 19. For simplified training forfreestyle and backstroke, an apparatus for practice the basiccoordination of arms and hands of swimming with the body rotationmechanism by a user on land, comprising: a board with inverted T shapedlegs for supporting the user's full body length. an upper body rotationmechanism as in claim 1 installed on the top surface of the board.